Image source: Digital Influencer
Influencer marketing has become a mainstream PR and marketing tactic. Brands understand that they can dramatically increase their reach and create more authentic messages by partnering with social personalities who have large and loyal followings.
“Influencer marketing is incredibly powerful because it empowers brands to go directly to those authentic, trusted voices that buyers have already been turning to,” points out Eric Lam, CEO of Revfluence, in the Marketo blog. “Better yet, influencers can help boost the ROI across your entire marketing organization, if used the right way!”
Some statistics:
- 70% of people 18-34 years old said that they prefer recommendation from an influencer, according to MediaPost.
- 85% of B2B decision-makers rely on trusted online communities when buying, according to Forrester Research.
- 20-50% of all buying decisions are directed by word of mouth recommendations, according to McKinsey & Company.
Following these steps will help you develop an effective influencer marketing program.
Research. Build a list of influencers through a social media monitoring and measurement service. Be careful to seek influencers in your niche with loyal fans and high engagement levels, rather than focusing solely on the number of their followers.
Interact with influencers on social media. Twitter is a superb venue for interacting with influencers as it allows you to communicate directly with influencers and also to boost their visibility by retweeting and sharing their content. Creating a Twitter list of your target influencers can help interact, says Benjamin Brandall on Social PR Chat. Beware of excessive sharing which may come across as shallow marketing. They may be put off or feel you’re stalking them. Interact with a new contact roughly once per week.
Comment on the influencer’s content at its source, such as a blog post or Instagram post. That helps you get notice. Comment when you have something genuine to say, perhaps about three comments a month.
Guest post. Guest posting can establish your name in the niche and help develop relationships. First build a backlog of worthwhile content. Generally speaking, the bigger the influencer you’re trying to connect with, the more impressive your portfolio should be. Start off with smaller blogs and build up your guest posting portfolio with good quality posts before going for the bigger fish, Brandall says.
Consider micro-influencers. Influencers with a larger number of followers, but far less than the millions that famous celebrities have, are more likely to consider review products or to share a brand mention without large fees. Research shows that engagement declines after the number of followers increases, says Megan Dado, regional senior director of Rakuten Affiliate Europe, in the Drum. Influencers with fewer followers tend to have more fans who know them personally and trust their recommendations. Influencers with huge numbers of fans are more likely to attract more fake and bot accounts.
Build relationships by offering to be helpful before you ask for a favor. Consider endorsing them, publicizing their latest project, offering them content or co-creating content. “As with life, if you’re focused on what others can do for you rather than what you can offer them, you’re not likely to get any takers,” advises Penny C. Sansevieri, adjunct instructor at New York University and CEO of Author Marketing Experts Inc., in Bulldog Reporter.
Employ social media measurement to determine the value of your influencer marketing and demonstrate its value to management. “Influencer marketing measurement must show the additional value influencers brought above and beyond what the campaign would have brought without them,” comments digital marketer Ben Brausen.
Some metrics to track include:
- activity (volume of outreach to influencers),
- engagement (two-way interactions from target influencers),
- awareness (volume of brand mentions or other relevant topics from your influencer community),
- perception (quality of brand coverage from your influencer community) and
- Action (site traffic generated by your influencer community).
Bottom Line: Influencer marketing can supercharge your PR and marketing campaigns. However, successful influencer marketing means more than simply spotting people with large social media followings. For a successful influencer marketing, you must find the influencers whose opinions are respected by their followers, work hard to develop relationships with them, and measure your campaigns with social media measurement.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
